


A Path of Tears

by Oaklin



Series: Let's Walk Together, Not Apart [3]
Category: Professional Wrestling, World Wrestling Entertainment
Genre: Belligerent Sexual Tension, Kayfabe Compliant, M/M, Miscommunication, Misunderstandings, Oh god, Romantic Inexperience, Swearing, aggressive affection, bby!Steenerico boyfirends!AU, big time, i should shut up now, leaving it, romance au, that is a terrible tag
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-24
Updated: 2017-06-24
Packaged: 2018-11-17 09:14:22
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,538
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11272455
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Oaklin/pseuds/Oaklin
Summary: The greatest night of his life quickly devolves into just another twisted roadway of the littered mile they walk. Perhaps he should have expected it to turn out that way all along.Sometimes, what we imagine is far worse than the reality before us.*A direct continuation of Left At The Crossroads.





	A Path of Tears

**Author's Note:**

> Not sure if this was worth the wait, you guys will have to decide that for yourselves. It's not as floofy as I expected it would be, but we will get there eventually. Maybe ^.^
> 
> Be warned of mildly consent-y-ness issues? Sort of? You know how Kevin is, and you know how Sami is, so there is much worry and fretting and Kevin being a jerk and such. They basically spend the whole fic making things way more difficult than they need to be, simply by not opening their stupid mouths and telling each other very basic things about how they are feeling at any given moment.
> 
> ...basically, the usual shit that they do ;)

Sami beams brightly, only a little daunted by the troubled look on Kevin’s face.

(Why is he so...?)

Trying for cheerful, which is not that hard, considering that Sami feels like he is floating on pure sunshine, Sami steps up onto the little concrete slab in front of his motel room door.

“So. That was... you want to come in?”

-Uh-

(want him to _stay_ )

-Yeah but-

( **please** )

Kevin mutters something under his breath, turning like he means to leave. Sami snaps a hand out, pure instinct at first ( ** _wait!_** ), followed by a genuine desire to keep this newfound emotion close, along with the person said emotion is directed at.

“Don’t go,” Sami blurts hurriedly, scooting forward on the little concrete porch and tugging on Kevin’s sleeve, even as irritation and cynicism clash irately in his mind.

-Yeah-

-Whine petulantly at him like a crazy, clingy ex-

-And then tug on his pant leg like a toddler-

-Great plan-

-That will definitely make him want to stay here with us-

Kevin isn’t looking at him, and Sami braces himself for an angry growl of contempt.

To Sami’s surprise, what he gets instead is a longing look that leaves him breathless, though Kevin does shake the arm that Sami is holding onto. Sami releases Kevin’s shirt sleeve, feeling off center and confused.

(Does this whole night have to be so freaking confusing?)

-Probably-

“That is a bad idea,” Kevin says, looking at the ground like it is the most interesting piece of concrete that he has ever laid his eyes on in his entire life.

(What?)

-Oh boy-

“Why?” Sami asks, confused.

Does Kevin not want to spend time with him anymore?

Sami blinks, horror dawning on him.

Wait-

(does Kevin not _**want** _ to-)

(What did I do?)

(what **happened?** )

(I thought we were okay!)

( _Better_ than okay...)

Sami is wracked with flustered confusion, butterfly-inducing embarrassment, and a _grief_ that makes his **_heart ache_**.

They were _fine_ not ten minutes ago! What happened in the time that their lips touched under the stars- and Sami swears his whole life changed in that instant, he had thought Kevin had felt the same way- and now? Did Kevin change his mind?

Sami swallows, the motion painful with the throat clogging lump blocking his windpipe.

(Sami isn’t sure that he could stand that, if that is indeed what happened)

Which isn’t fair to Kevin.

Sami draws in a breath that makes his lungs ache, the lump in his throat making it almost impossible to speak without sobbing.

Still. If Kevin doesn’t **_want_** -

( **fuck** )

- **wait** -

“I’m sorry. I should not have asked. I did not mean to- _I’m sorry_. I’ll just- yeah. See you at the next show, I guess?” Sami mutters, pulling himself away from Kevin to the best of his ability, jamming the keys in the motel door as quickly as he can with his shaking fingers. There is not a lot of room on the tiny porch, but he manages to get the door open enough to slip into the room and shut the door behind him, the muted thump reverberating around the dusty, hollow, cold room with a finality that makes Sami want to cry.

Although, if the wetness that he can feel gathering on his numbing cheeks is any indication, that has already started.

Sami stumbles away from the door, unable to even think about what just happened, much less process it. He is well aware that avoiding the problem will not make it any better, but he cannot, for the life of him, dredge up the courage to think about taking any kind of action to repair the damage he has done.

What is he supposed to do now?

Why did that go so wrong?

It had felt so right-

“Oh fuck, what the hell did I just do?” Sami sobs softly, reaching up to rub a hand down his tearstained face, his chest feeling tight with a grief that he swears feels like someone died. His heart is pounding in his chest so hard that it is making an audible sound, thumping away insistently, so much so that he can hardly hear anything else-

“The fuck!”

Startled, Sami turns, blinking in confusion at the angry, red-faced Kevin standing in the door way, the fingers of one hand digging into the door like he is using it to hold himself upright.

Sami shies away on instinct, even as he berates himself for being a coward. He can’t help it though, just looking at the tattered ruins of what once could have been makes his head pound like he is being bludgeoned over the skull with what he can never have.

For the first time in their **relationship** -

- ** _Fuck you_** -

- _ **friendship**_... _almost_ **something else**... _whatever_ they were to each other, Sami wishes that Kevin would **leave**.

(that **_hurts_ ** more than Sami expected it too)

“I’m really, really sorry that we even- can we please talk about this later?” Sami pleads, taking another step back as Kevin glares at him furiously, all sorts of hurt and anger in his dark eyes that makes Sami feel even guiltier for making Kevin feel like he **had** to-

(or _whatever_ had happened)

-This is **_not_ ** what was supposed to-

“Did you just _fucking_ **break up with me** on the night that we got goddamned **_together_** , you cock teasing bastard?” Kevin snarls, his voice breaking jaggedly as he sears Sami with an irate glare so full of agony that it gives Sami pause in his self deprecating regret.

(wait)

- **what** is happening here?-

Sami pauses in his retreat, watching Kevin warily as the other man stares him down. Sami blinks, thoroughly confused, his breathing speeding up as he tries to pull his mind out of it’s grief and access the situation that is apparently not what he thought it was?

Or something?

“What? No?”

Kevin flexes his fingers against the door, the wood creaking in protest as he leans his wait against it, like he is straining to enter the room, but holding himself back for some reason.

- _Always_ holding himself back-

( **wait** )

“I thought you were regretting- **_us_** ,” Sami said hurriedly, a sneaking suspicion that they have once again had one of their patented miscommunications, and that the result was almost as disastrous as it is possible for something to be.

Which would just be so _typical_ -

“I’m sorry if that wasn’t what was going on with you, but you reacted to me wanting you to stay over like I had just asked you to eat a newborn child, so I thought that you-”

“You are a fucking idiot.”

Sami can’t help the spike of pain that lashes through him at the insult. Usually, Kevin being **_Kevin_ ** doesn’t bother him at all, as that is just how Kevin talks. But right now, with the grief still pulsing through him and the confusion radiating through his mind, that jab **stings**. Sami is sorely tempted to walk over and slam the door is Kevin’s mean spirited face, though he resists the impulse.

(asshole)

“And you are a massive jerk. What is your point?” Sami snaps, aware that this is turning into a fight, and that that is a Very Bad Thing. He can’t help it though, he wants this conversation to end, and he kind of just wants Kevin to leave. Sami wraps his arms around himself, taking another step back and waiting for whatever other rudeness Kevin burst in here to say, before he presumably feels like he has made Sami feel like enough of a piece of crap for the night.

“Just growl whatever insults you wanted to throw at me, and then leave please. I would like to be able to still be friends, if being friends with an _idiot_ doesn’t offend you too much.”

There is whole lot of bitterness in that sentence, and Sami supposes that that is unhealthy.

(feels **good** to say though, for some reason)

-Even if it **_hurts_ ** at the same time-

Kevin’s face is completely unreadable at this point, not that Sami particularly wants to read the anger on Kevin’s face at this exact moment.

“I **_wanted_ ** to... be- fuck. Are you seriously kicking me out?”

Sami blinks, even more confusion flooding him.

(the hell is going on?!)

“Wait, what? Then why did you- What the fuck do you want from me? You balked like a terrified ex when I asked you not to leave, you busted into my room just to insult me, and now you are asking me why I don’t want you here? I don’t know what kind of fucking game you are playing, but I want no part in it. I think I made it clear earlier, what I would like for us. If you don’t feel the same way, I wish you had not have kissed me, but I’m not going to pretend like our relationship is some sort of horrifying cage that you are trapped in. You can leave anytime you want.”

“I don’t **_want_ ** to **leave** ,” Kevin snarls, his voice reedy and thin as he strains against the door. Sami can feel those dark eyes pleading with him, for what exactly he is unsure, but Sami cannot make himself look up from the floor.

“I didn’t mean- _fuck_. That is not at all what I **meant**. I kissed you because I **_want_** \- I have- _**always**_...” Kevin is struggling, Sami can hear it in his voice, but he is reluctant to help the poor guy out as he strains against the door and fumbles for words.

Which Sami acknowledges as sad and petty. This misunderstanding is _their fault_ , not only Kevin’s alone.

 **Still**.

“You _didn’t_ change your mind?” Sami asks, needing to know with such a burning desire that he can feel it searing his tongue as he speaks the words.

“ _No_ , I did **not** ,” Kevin says firmly, squeezing the door until the wood shrieks.

Sami looks up finally, needing to see the truth in Kevin’s eyes before he believes the hope welling painfully in his chest.

“You still want to be... **together?** ” Sami asks, the word _boyfriends_ getting discarded internally when he realizes how paltry and inadequate it sounds, even in his head.

Kevin doesn’t answer verbally this time, just nodding his head silently. Sami relaxes marginally, lowering his arms from their defensive cradle, eyeing the distance between him and Kevin with tepid unease.

“Okay. Uh,” And Sami flounders here, unwilling to utter the request that had made this all go south in the first place, but loath to see Kevin walk away from him, in case this all some sort of wish fulfillment dream, and the porch incident happened and Sami is just passed out on the floor right now, lost in a dream of his own making.

(which is ridiculous)

Sami pinches himself just in case, irrationally glad when nothing happens and he does not wake up alone on the floor of the motel room.

Still, this situation is very tenuous at the moment, and Sami has no idea what to do.

Which is a problem, because Kevin clearly has no idea what to do either. So they both end up just kind of standing there, a gulf of distance between them, the both of them completely at a loss for where they go next, or what they are meant to do now that they have cleared up the misunderstanding.

(hope _this_ never happens again)

-Right-

(damn it)

“So. Uh. Glad we got that all sorted out,” Sami coughs awkwardly, his voice trailing off as he scans the room, desperate for something, anything else to look at rather than those dark eyes. All he really wants to do, at the moment, is fling himself across the room and press himself to Kevin until they transcend their mortal flesh, becoming one entity for the rest of their lives.

Sami has a sneaking suspicion that that action would be unwelcome.

-He said he still **_wants_** -

(He did _not_ say he wants to be touched)

-It's Kevin-

-Of **course** he didn't **_say_ ** that-

-That would be too _easy_ -

“Probably should... like, talk about that sort of stuff, before we jump to conclusions and make it all- fucked. Next time,” Kevin says, and Sami looks up, taking in the confusing swirl of ragged emotions tugging at the frown on Kevin’s face.

“Yeah. Communication is key,” Sami says, aware that they are still not communicating with each other properly, but unsure how to fix it at the moment.

-Just ask him to stay for god's sake-

No.

He will get freaked out and leave.

(still don’t understand why he got so skittish the first time)

Not going to scare him again.

-Great, then lets just stand here all night long-

-Idiots-

“This is dumb. We are so fucking-” Kevin snarls in disgust, stomping into the room, slamming the door behind him with enough force to shake the wall. He turns, his face turning crimson and his eyes betraying uncertainty, lifting his chin and seeming to wait for Sami’s opinion on the state of their intelligence.

“You want something to drink?” is the first thing that pops into Sami’s over-exited mind, as he hops up and down on the balls of his feet, anxiously debating whether this means he is allowed to wrap his arms around Kevin and breath him in or not.

That question is answered just a heartbeat later, though instead of verbally replying, Kevin rockets forward. Slamming into Sami with enough force to rock him backwards, Kevin latches onto Sami like a drowning man to a lifeboat. His arms reach out, his fingers grasping at Sami's shoulders briefly before his body crashes into Sami's and he gets his arms all the way around him. Sami gasps, though he responds in turn, not complaining about the restriction to his air, just getting his arms around Kevin’s back and digging his fingers in, getting handfuls of shirt and skin as Kevin walks into him, pushing them backwards across the room in a tangle of limbs.

Kevin grumbles something, the words hot and breathy against Sami’s skin. Sami can’t make out what it is that Kevin actually said, but he doesn’t really care that much, to be quite frank. He doesn’t respond either, just winces a bit as they fumble their way across the room, Sami’s back crashing into the wall with a muted thump.

“ ** _Fuck_**. Do you- _do you_ still **want** me to lea-”

 _“No,”_ Sami says, the words rushing out of him in a panic. He grips Kevin tighter, despite his earlier words about Kevin being allowed to leave whenever he wants.

(Kevin _can_ leave whenever he wants)

-don't **want** him to-

Exactly.

“Please,” Sami mutters, squishing himself as close to Kevin as he can get and basking in the together-ness of it all.

(could stay like this-)

Kevin makes a wounded sound in the back of his throat that seems to tear at Sami’s very soul. A moment of blind panic pulses through Sami - _please_ no more, not **right now** \- but Kevin doesn’t move away from him or push him away. He just squeezes Sami tighter, his arms crushing Sami to him, his thumbs digging into Sami’s spine.

**_“Forever.”_ **

**Author's Note:**

> And now they are reading each others minds. Great. Not that they don't seem to do that irl, weirdly enough. As I have warned before, these two will probably never get to just quietly ride off into the sunset in my fics. At least not until the series it legit over. I'm not the biggest fan of writing un-complicated relationships with zero conflict or baggage. It is less than interesting for me to write and would be mega out of character, so yeah. Being boyfriends is going to make life more difficult, sometimes, for these two.
> 
> Also, Kevin's irl family will not exist (which kinda sucks, now that I think about it. Sorry Karina, Owen, and Elodie(sic?), you all are the best and ilu<3) because this series is in an alternate timeline. Yada yada, Austrian physicist, blah blah unobserved felis catus, multiverse theory that good old marvel ran into the ground, you know the drill. I don't need to explain that probably, the multiverse is a staple of a LOT of franchises, and I'm pretty sure it is still a thing in fan fiction? Except it's like, called AU or something, right?
> 
> Whatever. Hope you like it, and have a good week!


End file.
